Invited Session: Climate Change

New W2E Plant as a Catalyst for a Smart City (0.5 CEU)

Tuesday, September 26, 2017
14:45 – 15:15
Room 316

Moderator: Steven Horowitz, Member, The Horowitz Law Group, LLC, New York

The inter-municipal cooperative Intercommunale Voor Slib-en Vuilverwijdering Van Antwerpse Gemeenten (ISVAG) is responsible for processing residual waste from more than 1 million citizens in the Antwerp (Belgium) region. Recently, the ISVAG Board approved the plans for a brand new waste-to-energy (WtE) plant in Antwerp. This will be an investment of approximately $200 million. At this moment the company is going through the permitting procedure for this project. In 2022, when the plant will be operational, the old one will be dismantled and the vacant space will receive a green destination. The new plant will be a combined heat and power plant that will produce electricity for 35,000 households or heat for an equivalent of 40,000 homes. It will make ISVAG an example of how a state-of-the-art WtE plant can play an essential role in the development of a carbon neutral, sustainable smart city. Also in Belgium a big infrastructure project like this is not easy (NIMBY, political issues). Therefore ISVAG prepared for this decision for several years. It commissioned studies and recommendations from many different research institutions consultants and universities. We even established an external scientific commission with university professors from Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. Transparency and high level stakeholder management was, is and will be crucial is this entire process.

Thanks to this presentation the audience will get insight in the complete and very thorough process that led to the choice of a specific processing technique and all necessary steps to obtain political, scientific and public support for this decision. We would like to have a debate with the participants on the role of a WtE plant in the fight against climate change.

Speakers:

Philip Heylen, Chairman of the Board, ISVAG, Belgium

Philip Heylen serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the ISVAG intermunicipal waste management organization in Antwerp. He is currently business development manager at Ackermans & van Haaren, a diversified group active in four core segments: Marine Engineering and Contracting, Private Banking, Real Estate and Senior Care, and Energy and Resources. Mr. Heylen is also honorary vice-mayor of the city of Antwerp and member of the city council. He graduated in law from the University of Antwerp.